The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Cantonese Chinese pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See Cantonese phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Cantonese Chinese. Please note that English equivalents given in this page may only represent very approximate sounds to the original pronunciations.
IPA |
Yale |
Jyutping |
Chinese |
English approximation |
Consonants |
f |
f |
風 |
fan |
h |
h |
客 |
house |
j |
y |
j |
月 |
you |
k |
g-, -k |
角 |
scan |
kʰ |
k |
卡 |
can |
kʷ |
gw[1] |
瓜 |
squeak |
kʷʰ |
kw[2] |
誇 |
quick |
l |
l |
落 |
leaf |
m |
m |
莫 |
moon |
m̩ |
m |
唔 |
mmm |
n |
n |
男 |
noon |
ŋ |
ng |
牙 |
song |
ŋ̍ |
ng |
五 |
(syllabic ng) |
p |
b-, -p |
班 |
span |
pʰ |
p |
拍 |
pan |
s |
s |
西 |
saw |
t |
d-, -t |
達 |
stand |
tʰ |
t |
拖 |
tan |
ts |
j |
z |
將 |
casts |
tsʰ |
ch |
c |
鏘 |
cats (aspirated) |
w |
w |
活 |
water |
ʔ |
(before a, e, o) |
阿 |
uh-oh! |
All of these consonants may begin a syllable,
though some speakers do not have /n, ŋ/.[3]
In addition, /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ/ may end one.[4]
|
IPA |
Yale |
Jyutping |
Chinese |
English approximation |
Vowels and diphthongs |
aː |
aa-, a |
aa |
亞 |
father (Australian English) |
aːi |
aai |
界 |
time |
aːu |
aau |
交 |
how |
ɐ |
a |
甩 |
cut |
ɐi |
ai |
矮 |
kite (short) |
ɐu |
au |
歐 |
house (short) |
ei |
ei |
悲 |
hey |
ɛː |
e |
些 |
yes |
ɛːu |
— |
eu |
掉[5] |
roughly like yeah well |
e |
i |
色 |
sick |
iː |
意 |
see |
iːu |
iu |
橋 |
roughly like few |
ou |
ou |
奧 |
hoe (American English) |
ɔː |
o |
我 |
law |
ɔːy |
oi |
哀 |
boy |
œː |
eu |
oe |
靴 |
roughly like fur in British English; fleuve in French |
ɵ |
eo |
出 |
roughly like again, but it's rounded |
ɵy |
eui |
eoi |
去 |
No English equivalent; like neutre in Quebec French |
o |
u |
福 |
look |
uː |
烏 |
food |
uːy |
ui |
回 |
roughly like phooey; almost like nouille in French |
yː |
yu |
於 |
No English equivalent; menu in French |
IPA |
Yale |
Jyutping |
Chinese |
Description |
Tones |
sí |
sī |
si1[6] |
思 |
high level: si˥˥ |
sî |
sì |
|
high falling: si˥˧ |
sǐ |
sí |
si2 |
史 |
mid rising: si˧˥ |
sī |
si |
si3 |
試 |
mid level: si˧˧ |
si̭
sȉ |
sìh |
si4 |
時 |
low falling: si˨˩
or very low: si˩˩ |
si̬ |
síh |
si5 |
市 |
low rising: si˨˧ |
sì |
sih |
si6 |
是 |
low level: si˨˨ |
bít |
bīt |
bit1 |
必 |
high checked: pit˥ |
sīt |
sit |
sit3 |
薛 |
mid checked: sit˧ |
sìt |
siht |
sit6 |
舌 |
low checked: sit˨ |
|
Notes
- ↑ /kʷ/ is often merged with /k/ before /ɔ/ in Hong Kong Cantonese.
- ↑ /kʷʰ/ is often merged with /kʰ/ before /ɔ/ in Hong Kong Cantonese.
- ↑ Initial /ŋ/ is not pronounced in Hong Kong Cantonese by younger speakers, leaving a glottal stop /ʔ/ before a, e, o, and initial /n/ may be replaced by /l/.
- ↑ Final /ŋ/ may be merged into /n/ in Hong Kong Cantonese, except after /ɪ, ʊ/. /i, u/ in diphthongs are equivalent to a final /j, w/. After rounded vowels, a i becomes /y/.
- ↑ /ɛːu/ is pronounced only in colloquial speech.
- ↑ The high level and high falling tones have merged to high level in Hong Kong Cantonese for most words.